Warren Buffett – Advice From One Of The Worlds Richest Men

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Is Buffett a Hypocrite For Paying Low Taxes?

Warren Buffett believes that his taxes should actually be higher. A regular response that you might hear is that Buffett should just pay more taxes himself. Many conservatives even like to call Buffett a hypocrite because he doesn’t pay higher taxes voluntarily and pay more than his secretary.

Here’s the situation…

Michele Bachman has a husband that runs a health clinic that bills Medicaid, although she generally has a problem with big government. Liberals, believing that she would get rid of Medicaid, find a major hypocrisy here.

If you can set aside peripheral questions and believe that Bachman indeed wants to cut back or get rid of Medicaid altogether, it’s true that the situations are certainly analogous. Neither of them is hypocritical. They are both principled, noble and deserve high praise.

Bachman and Buffett are both advocating policies that would hurt them. This in turn shows that they are more interested in putting a higher priority on policies that they feel are the best, whether or not they will hurt their personal wealth. They put their principles over current or potential profits.

It may be hypocritical if Buffett mentioned needing higher taxes but he shouldn’t pay them. Or, on the other hand, if Michelle Bachman said that government needs to be cut, but no cuts should take place with health clinics.

Gaining benefit from something and advocating its destruction is being principled, not a hypocrite.

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